It is important to provide prompt assistance to vehicles involved in accidents and serious crashes. In more severe crashes, a crash victim typically is unable to call for assistance. Moreover, in some cases, vehicles can not be immediately located after a crash, which prevents the immediate rendering of aid. For example, vehicles that crash in the dark, off the roadway, into a ditch, a ravine, water, or heavy brush, may not even be noticed by passers-by.
Some of this problem has been solved with the advent of cellular technology, wherein a vehicle within an onboard Telematics system, such as General Motor's OnStar™ system, can automatically call for assistance when airbags are triggered, for example. However, even in this case, help may not arrive immediately. Passers-by can render assistance sooner, but only if the vehicle is observable. In addition, not all vehicles have such onboard Telematics systems. In particular, motorcycles are particularly vulnerable to this accident scenario as these vehicles do not come equipped with onboard Telematics systems or air bags, they are more easily lost off a roadway, and there is a much higher likelihood that a driver would be injured and unable to call for help.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a simpler approach that overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems. In particular, it would be beneficial if a simple, low-cost system could be supplied to provide a localized accident notification wherein passers-by could notice a vehicle after an accident and render immediate assistance.